Gin
by KarotsaMused
Summary: Sometimes it's amazing, the cathartic power of a simple card game. (E&A)


A/N: Aah. It's finally spring break. And, well, I wrote this little thing. Two pages exactly without the authors' notes or any formatting whatsoever. Waha. More Gojyo/Gonou sweet fluffiness, because I couldn't help myself. It's set the day after "Two Steps Back" in the Eights and Aces 'verse.   
  
Welcome, old friends: I hope you like this little installment and I'm about two pages into Kougaiji's fiction, so don't worry about him 'cause he's on his way. I'm also working on a little Sanzo/Goku, because I love those two. Welcome, also, to new readers: reading Eights and Aces is not necessary, just understand that Kanan died, her funeral was yesterday, Kanzeon Bosatsu (Candy) is Sanzo's rich aunt, and they're in the "real" world. Oh, and Gojyo used to be a whore. There's a reference to that in here.   
  
There will be at least two more one-shotty little ficlets in this universe, and they will either come before or around the same time I start posting Kougaiji's sequel. It's gonna be a good one, I swear ^.^  
  
Disclaimer: Saiyuki isn't mine. Nor is Will and Grace, which somehow spawned this whole thing. Um, and if I messed up Sanzo and Gojyo's birthdays, don't hurt me. They're both in November, right?  
  
Enjoy!  
  
***  
  
She grinned at the four of them; her charges, her boys. "You all will have to amuse yourselves for a while. I've got some business to which I must attend," she said, sauntering out of the entry hall as if she hadn't been to a funeral the day before.  
  
Goku watched her go, and smiled a little. "Hey, Sanzo, let's play gin."  
  
The blonde snorted, glaring down at his charge as if the invisible tether might shatter somehow. "Do we look like we're in the mood?" he asked, his tone dripping with disdain.  
  
Truly, they did not. Gojyo had stayed the night at Gonou's behest, and the two had stayed up to ungodly hours of the morning in talk. The two had gotten little sleep, and Gonou's red eyes were further weakened by tears. He huddled in the clothes he'd brought to Sanzo's, looking utterly vulnerable without the stiffness of his suit to hold him up. All that morning, he'd walked softly, spoken little, and what words did come out were hoarse from overuse and lack of sleep. He'd barely eaten a thing, staring disconsolately at his plate, knowing he had seen Kanan for the last time. Her ashes were scheduled to arrive at the house within a few weeks. He planned to keep them.  
  
Gojyo wore his shirt open, having borrowed one from Gonou and finding his shoulders too broad to fit inside. Candy offered to get him another one, but he had refused, preferring its worn state. A glib comment had followed about how the green brought out his eyes. His undershirt was threadbare, and he still wore the slacks of his tux, but with the button undone for the sake of comfort. His hair was tangled and limp from being finger-combed, and his skin had long before lost the protective barrier of cologne. As had Gonou's. They rather smelled like each other, like warm skin and dirty hair and tiredness. He padded around in his socked feet, never far from Gonou, protective and obvious. He had eaten like any normal man, functioned perfectly well, but with one eye always on Gonou. It was not often that his hand was not resting somewhere on the boy, a heavy source of comfort and connection.  
  
Sanzo himself had slept, but familiar automobile nightmares left it restless and he was irritable. More so than usual. He had glowered out at the lightening day, the brilliant spring morning made fresh with the prior night's rain, and almost darkened the sky with his damning young eyes. Goku seemed to be the only one in a relatively good mood. Goku and Candy. But at Sanzo's comment, Gonou smiled.  
  
"Have you given up on learning poker then?" he asked, cocking his head to the side.  
  
Goku blushed a bit. "Well, for now, yeah. But I can -do- gin. Come on. Let's play." He pulled a deck of cards from Sanzo's back pocket. The blonde snatched them back and cuffed him, hard.  
  
Gonou laughed. Of all people, he was the one laughing. The gentle chuckle was joined soon after by Gojyo's low, seedy rumble. "Okay."  
  
They made quite the picture once Goku sat them down. The dining table was far too huge, and so they sat on couches and used the coffee table for the draw pile. The fireplaces, blazing always in winter, were defunct and black, gaping holes in the décor of the room. There were water-spots on the windows from the rain. If they had thought to listen closely, they might have heard birds.  
  
Gojyo veritably -lounged- on the cushions beneath him, spreading out and propping his head on an armrest, a lanky arm's reach away from the cards. Gonou perched primly by his feet, unobtrusive and with perfect posture. Sanzo occupied a chair near Gojyo's head, one arm apathetically bending at the armrest and leaving his hand in his lap. And Goku sat cross-legged in his own chair, leaning against his knees. The first hand was drawn silently, but soon Gojyo rummaged in his pockets.  
  
"Oi, blondie," he muttered. "Want a smoke? I know you do it."  
  
"Give one over," Sanzo responded, valuing a free cigarette over his indignation at the pet name. Gojyo grinned and pulled a pack from his pants, lewdly arching his hips to do so. His knee bumped Gonou and he made no move to apologize.  
  
"Sanzo!" Goku cried. Gonou raised one eyebrow as well. Never before had Sanzo's 'bodyguard' ever been so vociferous in his dislike of the boy's smoking habits. At least, not in public. Sanzo didn't look at either of them, but leaned down to let Gojyo light the end. The redhead smiled, setting his own cigarette between his lips.   
  
"Candy knows too but doesn't give a fuck so long as you don't use the good china for an ashtray." He yawned and nestled into the couch cushions, cigarette dangling from his mouth.  
  
Sanzo shrugged, dropping a card and grabbing another. Goku snatched the card Sanzo put down.   
  
"Gin!" he cried, triumphantly showing his hand. Four twos, three sevens. Gojyo cursed good-naturedly and pitched his hand in. Goku passed the deck to Gonou, on his right. "Now you deal," he goaded.  
  
Gonou nodded, picking up the deck and bridging in mid-air. His movements were hardly hindered by a fraction of a good night's sleep, and the cards flew between his fingers with practiced ease. He paused once in dealing to shove his glasses up the bridge of his nose.  
  
"You ought to get new ones," Gojyo said, pointing at them. "Although it's damn' cute the way you're messin' with 'em all the time."  
  
Gonou shrugged. "I never got around to buying new ones. I guess I got used to these."  
  
Gojyo raised his eyebrow, dropping a two of clubs for Sanzo to pick up. "That's not the point."  
  
Gonou let the silence wear on for a while, staring at his hand and trying not to yawn. "I know. Oh, Gin," Gonou said as a side note, displaying his winning hand. "You deal, Gojyo." When Gonou leaned over to hand the deck to the redhead, their hands lingered for a moment longer than necessary. Before Gonou rocked back into place, Gojyo slid his foot behind him. Gojyo focused his eyes on the cards in his hands, but smiled after some time had passed and Gonou didn't push him away.  
  
"We'll go out someday and find you some that fit," Gojyo pressed, asserting his staying power. He was forcing himself into Gonou's future, tooth and nail.  
  
Gonou glanced over to him and smiled. "If we must."  
  
Gojyo took a long drag and blew smoke into the air. "Yeah."  
  
Goku frowned at Sanzo, jealous of the easiness of the give-and-take between the two on the couch. "So why do I gotta fight -you- on everything, huh?" he jabbed, but playfully.  
  
Gojyo laughed. "He's a little tightass, saru. You gotta get used to it."  
  
"Don't call me that." Goku scowled at his cards, putting on a show of ignoring Gojyo. The redhead yawned again, the redness around the whites of his eyes seeming to seep from the irises as well.  
  
"Gin," Sanzo said, tossing a string of diamonds - two to eight - on the table. "Gimme the deck."  
  
Gonou smiled. "You aren't going to comment on those two?"  
  
Sanzo arched an eyebrow, pitching cards across the varnished wood. "When they say something intelligent." He flicked ash onto the floor, uncaring of where it landed.  
  
"Hear that? He called you stupid," Gojyo sneered.  
  
Goku glared at him. "He called you stupid, too!"  
  
Gojyo smiled, murmuring, "Yeah, but he doesn't matter half as much to me." He drew another card. "Hel-lo, nurse!"  
  
The silence that followed Gojyo's little triumphant cry was nearly tangible like a vice around the heart. Gonou glanced from a very pale Goku to a very stiff Sanzo. And he marveled at Gojyo's ability to give one sentence such meaning. He laughed to himself. When Gojyo looked questioningly in his direction, he said, "Just amazed at your ability to impregnate a phrase." Gojyo's jaw dropped a little, but he laughed and wiggled his foot in retribution. Gonou didn't even let out a cry, though his body bucked. Sanzo rolled his eyes and rubbed his cigarette out on a coaster.  
  
"Oi, are you even -old- enough to be smoking?" Gojyo asked. "Don't wanna get in trouble with the law."  
  
"Like you're concerned with legality," Sanzo sneered. Gojyo had the modesty to look mildly hurt at the jab at his prior profession, but the other counts against him were a pleasure. "Eighteen in late November," Sanzo muttered over his hand.  
  
Gojyo grinned back. "Twenty-two in -early- November."  
  
"So what's an old fart like you doing with the likes of us?" asked Goku.  
  
Gojyo leered languidly at Sanzo and drawled, "Waiting for late November."  
  
Sanzo glared down at Gojyo and cuffed him upside the head. The redhead grunted and rubbed at the lump, but Gonou smiled. He patted Gojyo's knee and murmured, "You must admit that was deserved."  
  
Gojyo made a show of his pain, but never stopped smiling. Then he yawned loudly, and stretched his arms over his head. "How many more games we gotta play, Goku?"  
  
"Wait just a minute." Goku grabbed a card from the draw pile and grinned like a jackal. "None! I win again. I'm gonna go get some food. You coming?"  
  
Gojyo waved a hand. "You go along. I need a nap. Gonou too." His tone left no room for doubt.  
  
Sanzo glanced at his best friend. Gonou nodded, comfortable with being spoken for. The blonde didn't want anything to eat, but he suddenly knew he didn't want to be with them either. He left.  
  
When they were gone, Gojyo wiggled the foot under Gonou's backside. "Hey, you. C'mere." When Gonou didn't move, he sat up and grabbed him, pulling him close and reclining again on the couch. "Do you know I couldn't sleep for worrying about you in the next room over? It's terrible of you to do that."  
  
Gonou let his head rest on Gojyo's chest, relaxing into him. He was so tired. "Sorry," he murmured around a yawn. The body against him was warm and yielding, soft and smelling of skin and sleep and all the real, unemotional things in the world. A breathing bed with a deep, cinnamon voice and endless patience.  
  
Gojyo smiled and reached down, gently pulling Gonou's overlarge glasses off of his face. "No, you're not." He shifted onto his side and wrapped his arms around Gonou's torso. The brunette's face rested perfectly in the crook of his neck. "Now you and me," he murmured, "we're gonna sleep good and hard. And if I drop you, you get to kill me." Gojyo smiled softly, running one hand down Gonou's back to rest at his waist.   
  
Gonou nodded a little, bringing his arm up and around Gojyo's ribs. With his head propped against a strong shoulder, his body held by strong arms, his legs tangled in lanky limbs, Gonou closed his eyes and slept. 


End file.
